‘Aye. Apparently.’ Short answers would be best. The next thing he knew, she would be taking him to task over...
‘So now married women, older women appeal to you?’ Her eyes narrowed as she asked.
The barking laugh escaped from his father’s mouth. Aidan felt the edges of his own mouth twitching then.
‘Not married women. Not older women. She appealed to me. Catriona appealed to me.’
There it was. This time it was a different matter altogether. He did not just want fill the empty place in his bed with another warm body, he wanted her. In a way, it was disquieting. An uncomfortable feeling tingled in his skin. It was about her and no one else.
‘Connor, tell Duncan to invite the three women we spoke of here...now. Spring is too far off.’
‘Here now, love...’ his father had stood at some point and now walked to his mother’s side ‘...we will travel to your brother’s lands in just over a month for his wedding. On our return, the three will visit here and Aidan will make his decision. We all agreed to this plan.’
‘’Tis clear to me that he needs to be married sooner rather than later.’
‘Which is what I have been telling you for the last year, love.’ Aidan startled and glanced at his father. So his mother had been the one behind delaying his betrothal? ‘We will see to it now.’
His mother seemed contented by that answer, even if he wasn’t comforted by the idea at all. Especially not when he just realised that what, or rather who, he wanted was outside his reach. Games aside, seduction aside, there was something about her that was different from every other woman he’d chased...and caught before. Over these last two weeks, since the incident that somehow exposed them, he’d thought about her more than he had before.
And how he’d dragged her into this mess.
‘Jocelyn, I’d like to speak to our son now,’ his father said, softly. His tone disarmed whatever objections she might have raised.
‘Listen to your father, Aidan,’ she said, lifting on her toes to kiss his cheek. ‘His counsel is wise.’
Aidan smiled as he saw his father’s brow rise as his mother walked by him. They watched as she left the chamber, closing the door behind her.
‘So,’ his father began, filling a cup with ale from the pitcher there and holding it out to him, ‘did you suggest Gowan for the assignment to get him out of your way, then? So you could pursue his wife?’
He would not lie. ‘Aye.’
Aidan waited as his father drank deeply before meeting his gaze. ‘And did you? Pursue her?’
‘Aye.’ The word came out on a whisper and echoed across the emptiness between them.
‘You have not failed in that kind of pursuit before.’
Now it was his turn to raise a brow at that remark. How closely had his father watched his amorous exploits?
‘As your mother will no doubt tell you, there is little or nothing that happens in my family or on my lands that I do not know about.’ His father laughed then. ‘And it was not so long ago that I was a young man chasing any young woman who would share a few moments of pleasure with me.’
‘And marriage made you stop?’
His father’s faithfulness to his mother was well known, but was considered an eccentricity among most other families. A man could have a wife and a leman if he could support both and a wealthy, powerful nobleman such as his father could afford as many as he’d want. Yet he neither sought nor kept any lovers since, according to the stories, his marriage to Jocelyn MacCallum.
Connor MacLerie’s marriage stood as an example and many men in the clan followed his lead, finding happiness in the beds and hearts of only their wives. Duncan, Rurik and others remained steadfast to their vows.
‘Not marriage so much as love,’ his father explained. Though his father’s first marriage had ended in disaster, rumours said he had loved his wife. ‘That is why I want you to focus on your marriage. If you find a wife like the one I found in your mother, this restlessness will pass.’ His father put his cup down and sat once more. ‘So, how do you plan to proceed in this matter between you and Gowan?’
‘When he returns, I expect he will punish his wife as he sees fit and he will issue a challenge to me.’ That much he knew for no man would allow such an insult, whether real or perceived, to go unanswered. And Catriona would bear the brunt of Gowan’s displeasure over his actions.
‘And you will decline it? Handle it privately?’
Aidan shook his head and put the cup down. ‘Nay. I see no way to handle this in private since word has spread. I will accept his challenge and allow him to win. His honour will be satisfied and my transgression will be looked at as a youthful escapade.’ He used Catriona’s words to describe it. A pang of true longing struck him then. ‘Is Gowan a cruel man? A fair one?’ he asked, now contemplating what actions a man could or would take against a wife who shamed him...even if she had not.
‘I am glad to see you are finally seeing the results caused by your lack of control and lack of discretion,’ his father said.
The heat of embarrassment crept into his face. He’d been wrong, oh, so wrong, to pursue her and had never given it much thought. Before this, he would have taken his pleasure and never thought on the consequences. Now, an innocent woman who’d stood firm for the vows she’d taken would be chastised and, most likely, beaten for his actions.
